Friday Quickie: Tales of Not-Quite New Music

Bamberg Symphony Orchestra Review
Iain Gilmour, EdinbourghGuide.com, September 5, 2011

The Bamberg Symphony Orchestra is well-remembered from its five-concert residency at the 2003 Edinburgh International Festival.

Excellent. Sounds like repeat engagement would bring about a wonderful reunion.

Neither memories nor growing repute from widespread touring were sufficient to draw a reasonable-sized audience to the first of its two concerts closing the Usher Hall run in the 2011 Festival.

Hmm. I wonder what the problem was? Also, what's a reasonable-sized audience? How unreasonable could it have been -- was the fire marshal called?

figure reasonably-sized: Seems to fit nicely.

The choice of programme could have been a determining factor.

Really...the choice of programme? I've never heard such an accusation before.

Did they program symphonic U2? Because, there's no way I'd miss that!

embeddence U2: Note the presence of a singable tune.

An evening devoted solely to Messaien and Bartok is not a sure crowd-puller.

Oh, of course. Composers who, despite being dead (a major plus), had the misfortune of writing music after the era of good music had ended.

That is no criticism of the orchestra or its English conductor Jonathan Nott,...

Of course not. It's not their fault that music after 1900 is awful.

...who has just extended until 2015 a tenure as principal conductor begun in 2000. Nott encouraged and controlled the players admirably in the opening item, Messiaen’s Chronochromie.

Encouragement and mind-control are indeed good tactics, but really, you'll catch larger audiences with Beethoven than you will with Messiaen.

Conventional wisdom, I know, but playing the Messiaen well will never mean as much as not playing it at all.

But since the orchestra has lost their minds, and are probably only performing in front of the cleaning crew and student composers, tell us a little about this piece.

The work encapsulates two ideas – time and colour...

Hence the name.

... – and demands a big orchestra, with the usual percussion section enlarged by gongs, bells, glockenspiel, marimba, cymbals and xylophone.

Wait. Gongs, bells, cymbals, and xylophone are unusual percussion?

figure futuristic instrument: Observe the unusual shape and strange bends in this seemingly normal hunk of metal.

For Messiaen sounds had colour and time was expressed by rhythm and duration.

Wait...time was expressed by duration?! That's clearly some freaky shit.

[snip]

The orchestra produced every twist and turn in the score,...

Against their better judgment, I'm sure.

...from “twittering” sections – reflecting the composer’s lifelong interest in bird song -- to “off-key” combinations with accurate sound and precise timing.

Just think how much better this piece would have been had it been "on-key".

Messiaen was a complex character – composer, ornithologist, church organist (for 60 years at Holy Trinity in Paris) and teacher. His spell as Professor of Harmony at the Paris Conservatoire may have had more influence on the development of modern music than his compositions – his students included Stockhausen, Boulez, Goehr, and Kurtag – though he was the first composer to use an early version of an electronic keyboard.

And this is all very important and interesting, of course, providing that no orchestra ever play their music.

Excerpted for Commercial Appeal

But only slightly excerpted.

The good news: "New Classical Music" is alive and kicking in places one associates perhaps more with other kinds of culture. In this case, Memphis.

The bad news: They seem to be not quite sure what it is, or what to do with it.

All in all, it's a good thing, yes? Yes.

Let's try not to reinforce any stereotypes while we're at it. Yes? No?

Oh..No.

Luna Nova Ensemble focuses on new music, Mark Jordan, Memphis Commercial Appeal

Perhaps the name of the newspaper should have been fair warning?

Everyone knows the "three Bs" of classical music -- Bach, Beethoven and Brahms -- as well as Mozart and maybe a few others.

I don't know. I can't think of any other composers. Well, maybe a few... And if everyone knows them, is it necessary to explicate them?

But what about Stolz, Brandon and Patterson?

I assume these are featured composers on the concert in question, and not a quiz. That's cool; I'm all for exposure for hyper-obscure composers.

Even fans of classical music might be surprised to learn that not all classical music is so classic, that there are artists still producing original works for orchestra and chamber ensembles today.

What?

Even fans of classical music might be surprised to learn that not all classical music is so classic,...

I don't know what that means. Some of it is bad? obscure? contemporary? Let's go with contemporary...

...that there are artists still producing original works for orchestra and chamber ensembles today.

Even "fans" of classical music might be surprised to learn...that there are...living composers? Really?

The mission of Memphis' Luna Nova New Music Ensemble is to seek out and present such pieces for modern audiences.

Okay. Good. I favor such endeavors...

The group will kick off its fourth concert season Tuesday with a free show at the Hernando Public Library.

I thought libraries were supposed to be quiet.

The animal-themed program...

Uh.

...will feature performances from clarinetist Nobuko Igarashi, horn player Robert Patterson and bassoonist Jennifer Rhodes, all members of the Memphis Symphony Orchestra.

"Animal-themed?"

They will perform "Mozart's Dream" by Christopher Bailey, "Three Haiku for Clarinet and Bassoon" by Nolan Stolz, "Chansons de la Nature pour la Clarinette" by Jenni Brandon and Patterson's "the Cat Menagerie."

You can tell the last piece is particularly avant-garde because the composer is too cool to capitalize the "the" in the title.

Or the copy editor is dead. One or the other.

"People hear new music and think, 'Oh, that must be awful, but actually our audiences really like our music because there's a lot of music being written today that's listenable," said Patterson,...

First: the implication is that there is--obviously--a lot of music being written today that is not listenable, whatever that means.

Second: The "people" think really long run-on sentences that don't make a lot of sense. Or: the copy editor is dead.

Third: Way to reinforce the "new music is awful" meme. Good work!

...said Patterson, who debuted his seven-part piece last spring at a benefit for the House of Mews feline rescue in Memphis. "My piece is about these six cats that I owned, and it's very funny. At least I think its funny."

Usually I see lots of "it's" that don't need the apostrophe thrown about; here, in a stunning reversal--much like listenable new music--the apostrophe is missing from the contraction. But not in the previous sentence, in parallel construction.

[snip]

For Patterson, a Ph.D. in composition...

It's good to see living composers, eh? (Too bad about the editors, though.) I guess you can make a living as a contemp...

...who works days as a computer programmer...

...d'oh.

...groups like Luna Nova are a vital resource, not just as a creative outlet for him but as a jolt in the arm of the classical world.

A resource...for a jolt?

Figure 1: How do I get it in my arm?

"It's the way to save the art form," he said. "I'm very much a populist composer. It doesn't mean I think we have to pander ... but I think we can find other ways to reach audiences."

Other ways than...what? Other ways like...what?

What? Jolt?

Also, I like that we "don't have to pander" as long as we make sure the music is accessible, or "populist." I wish "populist" meant what it used to mean.

Figure 2: Mary E. Lease (1853-1933): The means of production must belong to the worker, and so forth.

Patterson is a 15-year veteran of the MSO whose works have been performed in South Africa, Norway and Spain.

While interesting, this sentence does not, in my estimation, merit its own paragraph.

"One of the most played contemporary composers in the country is John Adams. I happened to randomly meet his neighbor one time, and she told me he was constantly complaining to her that no one would do his music. So all composers feel like their music should be played more than it is.

First: This quotation never ends, as the quotation marks are never closed. Which is philosophically fascinating. And bad copy.

Second: This anecdote (of sample size = 1) shows that John Adams speaks for all composers according to this one time when someone met his alleged neighbor. This, therefore, is a fact worthy of inclusion in a "news paper."

Igarashi, the MSO's bass clarinetist, said the group allows her to branch out as a player.

Another interesting supporting fact; another questionable stand-alone sentence-paragraph. But that's trivial...

Tuesday's concert is part of the Hernando library's Cultural Arts Series funded by the Elizabeth Entrikin Cooke fund.

Erm. See above.

"I like having things that are not the usual fare," said head librarian Heather Lawson, who manages the series.

Me, too. I also like not reinforcing the imaginary assumption that people hate new music.

"One of the great thing about this particular concert is you learn to appreciate the individual instruments and the beauty of those instruments that a lot of times tend to get lost in the orchestra."

This interesting sentiment (by a non-musician) would be a great angle to pursue, perhaps, to generate interest in the concert series. Alternately, it could be left dangling at the end of the article.

I sincerely hope the concert series is successful. I also sincerely hope the copy editor is found and resuscitated.

Old Is the New New?

As a rule of thumb, I blindly support most new music organizations and their endeavors. Take Akron’s Tuesday Musical Association, for instance:

Tuesday Musical is embracing music made by artists who haven't been dead for more than a century.

...which includes such composers as Saint-Saens, Bruch, Massenet, Sarasate, Fuchs, d’Indy, Janacek, Elgar, Chaminade, Ysaye, Puccini, Mahler, Debussy (who could forget Debussy), Dukas, Busoni, and even Richard Strauss, to name a few.

Hooray, I kinda suppose. Just ask Tuesday Musical’s executive director about the FUZE concert series:

''The target audience is adventurous listeners.”

and...

''What we envisioned was, this series would be presented in an intimate space and what better place than the museum?''

While, yeah, they’re playing newish music, boo, they’re playing it in a museum. Is anyone else’s Irony Meter furiously flashing red?

-

To their credit, the FUZE concerts sound more hip than Malcolm X Abram's puff piece or I make them out to be.
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Positive New Music Criticism!

Hey! Some people do like new music! This is a pleasant review of what sounds like a good concert. The opening sentence draws you in…

Salonen and company triumph in a far-reaching MusicNOW program

A funny thing can happen if you take a classical newbie to a MusicNOW concert.

I like where this is going. What is that funny thing?

Now in its 10th year, the new music series challenges most preconceptions by having (living!)

Good heavens!

composers present their works to an audience and then even mingle with listeners afterward. A sense of worship is replaced with the spirit of camaraderie.

That sounds outstanding. This mingling element is a fantastic part of the new breed of contemporary concerts. I recommend this. Is that the funny thing? Camaraderie? Because…you brought a newbie? No, that’s not it.

Add in the sleek contemporary space of the Harris Theater for Music and Dance, and classical music gets a complete image makeover.

This “complete image makeover” is slightly exaggerated, but I approve of the sentiment.

So, what’s the funny thing that can happen when you take a “classical newbie” to such an event? Is it the image makeover? Because that doesn’t seem predicated on whether you bring someone or not.

On Monday night, there was much to gain from witnessing first-hand newer works by composers Esa-Pekka Salonen, Oliver Knussen and Rolf Wallin. CSO Mead composer-in-residence Mark-Anthony Turnage hosted a far-reaching program that included fragments of a David Lynch-like horror (by Wallin) and a contemporary take on Stravinsky's "A Soldier's Tale" (by Salonen).

That sounds interesting! I would like to see this concert.

Wallin's "LautLeben" (1999) was conceptually the evening's most unique creation. This daring electronic multimedia work comes from the school of Stockhausen, but takes enough risks to make its headmaster seem like Shirley Temple.

More risks than putting a string quartet in four helicopters?

Jazz soprano Sidsel Endresen, like Wallin a Norwegian (and who collaborated with him on the work), soloed in a way that Wallin described as if "her voice was traveling inside herself." Technology contorted her vocals around electronic tapes playing spastic throat calls and vertiginous squeals. An enormous screen behind the soprano projected glowing images that radiated delicately in the pitch-black theater.

I know it’s hyperbole, but that sounds like a lot of multimedia works. Which is fine, but not particularly “daring”. Small point.

So spacey was the work that Endresen had to inform the audience it was over, but she captivated nonetheless.

Sounds like she was very good. You might want to avoid the passive voice, though. However: I’m still waiting for the funny thing that can happen!

Back on earth, Knussen's short chamber symphony, "Songs Without Voices" (1992), scored for eight instrumentalists, revealed a more conventional work. Amy Dissanayake's liquid pianism and near perfect touch went a long way with CSO cellist Jonathan Pegis' effortless vibrato. Thorny harmonies crept in and out, but this was a seductive romance at its core.

Thorny harmonies might scare the “newbie”! That’s not the funny thing, is it? Because I think it's kind of funny.

Salonen, the veteran music director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, had just come off a busy weekend guest-conducting the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in Mozart's Mass and Knussen's Violin Concerto. When he moves on from the L.A. Philharmonic in 2009, he plans to devote more time to composing.

Salonen's "Catch and Release" (2006) is a rapidly changing, small-scale gem which provided poignant solos from CSO violinist Nancy Park and trombonist Charles Vernon. The maturity apparent in the last movement's brisk and bracing rhythms attested to a composer first, conductor second.

That sounds cool, too! I like his conducting but only know a little of his music. Now, you’re done describing all of the works. You can totally concentrate on telling me about that funny thing…the thing? That you described in your first sentence?

The article’s over?

(sigh)